Sunglass storage system

ABSTRACT

A display for eyeglasses is provided that includes an enclosure having a top and a bottom. One or more eyeglass display units are disposed within the enclosure between the top and the bottom, and one or more cabinets are secured to the enclosure, wherein at least a portion of each cabinet is above the bottom of the enclosure. The display may further include one or more drawers slidably disposed within the cabinet and one or more bins within each drawer. The bins can be partitioned into sections, and each section can be dimensioned to receive a pair of eyeglasses. The eyeglass display units can be rotatable within the enclosure. The drawers, bins and sections can be provided with indexing indicators that correspond to indexing indicators on the one or more eyeglass display units. Further, the bins can be postionally aligned alongside eyeglass receivers on the face of the display units so replacement eyeglasses stored in the bins can be easily inserted into empty eyeglass receivers.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

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STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

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FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to display systems and cabinets and more particularly to an eyeglass display cabinet.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Eyeglasses, sunglasses, spectacles, reading glasses and the like (hereinafter “eyeglasses”) are commonly presented for sale in a single vertical display unit that provides numerous eyeglass holders, one for each pair of glasses. After a displayed pair of eyeglasses is sold, the holder becomes empty and must be restocked.

Some display units have no storage for replacement eyeglasses. Most have a single storage drawer below the display. The lower-placed drawer can be difficult to access, especially for the elderly and those with physical ailments such as back problems. Further, eyeglasses stocked in the drawer tend to get damaged as a clerk searches for a particular pair to replace what was sold. Moreover, time is wasted looking through the drawer for the correct pair of replacement eyeglasses.

When glasses are sold in kiosk displays, such as in mall corridors, they must be locked-up or otherwise secured when the kiosk is unattended. It is backbreaking labor to restock an entire display in the morning after all of the stock has been piled into an almost floor-level drawer the night before. Also, it is difficult to ascertain which glasses go where if there is a preferred location on the display for a particular style of frame or lens.

It would therefore be desirable to provide a display cabinet having an elevated drawer conveniently located near an eyeglass display unit to reduce the time and energy required for restocking or secure storage of inventory. Furthermore, it would be desirable to provide a display which has indexing indicators which makes restocking more accurate, less arduous and less time consuming. It would also be desirable to provide storage bins within the drawer to make the restocking easier. Additionally, it would be desirable to provide sections within the bins to further simplify the restocking process. Furthermore, it would be desirable to provide a signage display or signage holder to provide advertising space for usage by the seller of the eyeglasses or by others.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The shortcomings of the known prior art are overcome in the present invention, which provides a display for eyeglasses that includes an enclosure having a top, a bottom. One or more eyeglass display units are disposed within the enclosure between the top and the bottom, and one or more cabinets are secured to the enclosure, wherein at least a portion of each cabinet is above the bottom of the enclosure. The display may further include one or more drawers disposed within the cabinet and one or more bins within each drawer. The bins can be partitioned into sections, and each section can be dimensioned to receive a pair of eyeglasses. The eyeglass display units can be rotatable within the enclosure. The drawers, bins and sections can be provided with indexing indicators that correspond to indexing indicators on the one or more eyeglass display units.

In one embodiment, a display for eyeglasses is provided. The display includes an enclosure having a top and a bottom, an eyeglass display unit disposed within the enclosure between the top and the bottom, and one or more cabinets secured to the enclosure, wherein at least a portion of the one or more cabinets are above the bottom of the enclosure.

In another embodiment, a display for eyeglasses is provided, the display includes an enclosure having a top and a bottom, and an eyeglass display unit disposed within the enclosure between the top and the bottom, wherein the eyeglass display unit is rotatable within the enclosure. The display further includes a first cabinet and a second cabinet secured to the enclosure, wherein at least a portion of each of the first cabinet and the second cabinet is above the bottom of the enclosure, and a drawer movably disposed within each of the first and second cabinets.

In yet another embodiment of the invention, a method of replacing eyeglasses in an eyeglass display unit is provided. The method includes the steps of providing an enclosure having a top and a bottom, the enclosure including an eyeglass display unit disposed within the enclosure between the top and the bottom and providing at least a cabinet secured to the enclosure wherein at least a portion of the first cabinet is above the bottom of the enclosure, where the cabinet includes a drawer movably disposed within the cabinet. The eyeglass display unit includes a plurality of eyeglass receivers. The method further includes the steps of providing one or more bins within the drawer, where the bins are dimensioned to retain one or more pairs of replacement eyeglasses, and each bin is aligned with at least one eyeglass receiver, identifying an empty eyeglass receiver, placing a replacement eyeglass on the empty eyeglass receiver.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A more complete understanding of the present invention, and the attendant advantages and features thereof, will be more readily understood by reference to the following detailed description when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a display cabinet in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 2A is a top view of a typical embodiment of the display cabinet, showing a drawer in sectional view;

FIG. 2B is a side view of the display cabinet showing a drawer in an open position;

FIG. 3 shows a perspective view of a detail of the eyeglass display unit and a drawer;

FIG. 4 is a top sectional view of a drawer within a cabinet having the drawer in the open position; and

FIG. 5 is a cut-away top view of a means for moving the drawer into and out of an accessible condition.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a display for eyeglasses 10 in accordance with the present invention. Display 10 includes an enclosure 12 having a top 14 and a bottom 16. An eyeglass display unit 18 is disposed within the enclosure 12, between the top 14 and the bottom 16. The display unit 18 may be rotatable within enclosure 12. As shown in FIG. 1, a second eyeglass display unit 18A may also be disposed within the enclosure 12. Display unit 18A may also be rotatable within enclosure 12. A top, front portion 15 of display 10 may include lighting and/or indicia such as, for example, the name of the sunglass store, or logo identifying the brands of eyeglasses contained in display 10.

A vertically-disposed cabinet 20 is secured to the enclosure 12 so that at least a portion of the cabinet 20 is above the bottom 16 of the enclosure 12. A drawer 22 is slidably disposed within the cabinet 20. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the entire portion of cabinet 20 is disposed above bottom 16. The drawer 22 may include a one or more storage bins 24 within drawer 22. Storage bins 24 are sized to receive and house one or more pairs of glasses. Bins 24 may include lids as extra security for the eyeglasses stored therein. The lids may be secured by one or more hinges or fasteners to allow the lids to be swung or slid open in order to gain access to the contests of bin 24.

Furthermore, each of the bins 24 may be partitioned into one or more sections 26, wherein each section 26 is dimensioned to receive a pair of eyeglasses 28. Although the sections 26 are shown in FIG. 1 as being vertically disposed within bin 24 in a side-by-side manner, they may also be disposed in a horizontal fashion, where one section 26 is disposed on top of another. A second cabinet 20A may be secured to enclosure 12. Instead of one drawer 22, one or more drawers 22A and 22B may be disposed within a single cabinet 20A. Each of the drawers 22A and 22B may contain one or more bins 24 and the bins 24 may be partitioned into sections 26, as described above, where each section 26 may be dimensioned to receive a pair of eyeglasses 28. Also, drawer 22 may have a mirror 30 secured to it for the convenience of a prospective purchaser.

FIG. 2A is a top view of the display cabinet 10 to which second cabinet 20A is affixed. At least a portion of second cabinet 20A is also located above the bottom 16 of the enclosure 12. Drawer 22 may be withdrawn from cabinet 20 to gain access to the glasses stored within bins 24 and closed within cabinet 20, by movement in the direction of the indicator arrows. FIG. 2B is a side view of the display cabinet 10 shown in FIG. 1, showing one example of the placement of bins 24 in drawer 22.

FIG. 3 shows a perspective view of a detail of eyeglass display unit 18 and drawer 22. The eyeglass display unit 18 includes one or more eyeglass receivers 32. As shown, the eyeglass receivers 32 may include a nose piece 34 and earpiece receivers 36. Other receivers known in the art are also contemplated. The eyeglass receivers 36 may include receiver indexing indicators 38. An indexing indicator may be an alphanumeric designation as shown in FIG. 1, a word, a pictograph, a color, a number, or any combination, or a similar indicator. The indexing indicator can help a person stocking the display 10 in accordance with a predetermined display plan, such a presentation by price, style, color, etc., and to perform his or her job more easily. In one configuration, an eyeglass receiver 32 has a receiver indexing indicator 38. Associated with drawer 22 is a drawer indexing indicator 40, shown in FIG. 1. Each receiver indexing indicator 38 may have a corresponding drawer indexing indicator 40, thus enabling a worker to identify and locate replacement glasses in a quick and efficient manner.

Similarly, FIG. 3 illustrates the use of receiver indexing indicators 38 with bin indexing indicators 42 located within the drawer 22. In this embodiment, the eyeglass display unit 18 includes one or more eyeglass receivers 32 having receiver indexing indicators 38. One or more bin indexing indicators 42 are associated with one or more corresponding bins 24. Each receiver indexing indicator 38 may have a corresponding bin indexing indicator 42.

The eyeglass display unit 18 can also be provided with bins 24 having partitions 26. The eyeglass display unit 18 has one or more eyeglass receivers 32 having receiver indexing indicators 38 and one or more partition indexing indicators associated with each partition 26. Each receiver indexing indicator 38 may have a corresponding partition indexing indicator. Thus, a second indexing scheme allows a worker to determine not only the bin 24 where replacement glasses may reside, but also the partition 26 within the bin 24 where one or more replacement glasses may reside.

Referring once again to FIG. 3, it can be seen that bins 24 are substantially aligned with one or more eyeglass receivers 32. Thus, in an alternate embodiment, the alignment of bins 24 with corresponding eyeglass receivers 32 may be used as an indexing scheme to allow workers to quickly and efficiently identify sold glasses, locate corresponding replacement glasses and fill an empty eyeglass receiver 32 with replacement glasses. For example, in FIG. 3, two eyeglass receivers 32 on the top row of display unit 18 are empty, indicating that two pairs of eyeglasses were sold and corresponding glasses need to be inserted into the empty slots. “Corresponding glasses” may be taken to mean glasses with similar appearance, glasses from the same manufacturer, glasses of the same or similar cost, or glasses containing any other identifiable feature that corresponds to the glasses that were sold. A worker can simply approach display 10, visually identify which glasses were sold by their empty receiver 32, withdraw drawer 22 from its cabinet 20, retrieve glasses contained in a bin 24 that is positionally aligned with the empty eyeglass receiver or receivers 32, and insert a pair of glasses on the empty eyeglass receiver 32.

The method described above can be used fill one or more empty eyeglass receivers 32 by use of the aligned bins 24 with drawer 22. Each bin 24 may be aligned with one or more eyeglass receivers 32. For example, a bin 24 within drawer 22 may be aligned with both sets of eyeglass receivers 32 in display 10, i.e., eyeglass receiver 32 within unit 18 and another eyeglass receiver 32 within unit 18A. Because the eyeglass receivers 32 within side-by-side units 18 and 18A are usually aligned with each other, one bin 24 may house replacement glasses for eyeglass receivers 32 in each unit, 18 and 18A.

Further, one bin 24 may be aligned with eyeglass receivers 32 within one display unit 18. For example, in FIG. 3, the topmost bin 24 is substantially aligned with the top tow rows of eyeglass receivers 32 in unit 18. Thus, it is easy for a worker to simply identify the empty eyeglass receivers 32 in unit 18, look to his right (or left if unit 18A is being examined for sold eyeglasses and drawer 22A and/or 22B contain replacement glasses), gain access to bin 24 which is at substantially the same level as the empty receivers 32, remove corresponding eyeglasses and insert them in the empty eyeglass receiver or receivers 32.

FIG. 4 is a top view of an open drawer 22 located within a cabinet 20. A bearing and rail system 44 for moving drawer 22 into and out of a closed position may be used to secure the eyeglasses within cabinet 20 when the drawer 22 is in a closed condition. FIG. 5 is a cut away view of the bearing and rail system 44 of FIG. 4. Other means for allowing drawer 22 to be inserted within and withdrawn from cabinet 20 are known in the art and are contemplated herein.

It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that the present invention is not limited to what has been particularly shown and described herein above. In addition, unless mention was made above to the contrary, it should be noted that all of the accompanying drawings are not to scale. A variety of modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention, which is limited only by the following claims. 

1. A display for eyeglasses, comprising: an enclosure having a top and a bottom; an eyeglass display unit disposed within the enclosure between the top and the bottom; and one or more cabinets secured to the enclosure, wherein at least a portion of the one or more cabinets are above the bottom of the enclosure.
 2. The display of claim 1, further comprising a drawer movably disposed within at least one or the one or more cabinets.
 3. The display of claim 2, further comprising a plurality of bins within the drawer, each bin dimensioned to receive one or more pairs of eyeglasses.
 4. The display of claim 3, wherein at least one of the bins is partitioned into a plurality of sections, wherein each section is dimensioned to receive one or more pairs of eyeglasses.
 5. The display of claim 1, further comprising a plurality of drawers disposed within the cabinet.
 6. The display of claim 5, further comprising a plurality of bins within one or more of the plurality of drawers.
 7. The display of claim 6, wherein at least one of the bins is partitioned into a plurality of sections, and wherein each section is dimensioned to receive a pair of eyeglasses.
 8. The display of claim 1, wherein the eyeglass display unit is rotatable within the enclosure.
 9. The display of claim 8, further comprising a second rotatable display unit within the enclosure.
 10. The display of claim 1, further comprising a second cabinet secured to the enclosure, wherein at least a portion of the second cabinet is above the bottom of the enclosure.
 11. The display of claim 2, wherein the eyeglass display unit includes a plurality of eyeglass receivers having receiver indexing indicators; and a plurality of drawer indexing indicators associated with the drawer.
 12. The display of claim 11, wherein each receiver indexing indicator has a corresponding drawer indexing indicator.
 13. The display of claim 3, wherein the eyeglass display unit includes a plurality of eyeglass receivers each having receiver indexing indicators; and a plurality of bin indexing indicators associated with each bin.
 14. The display of claim 13, wherein each receiver indexing indicator has a corresponding bin indexing indicator.
 15. The display of claim 4, wherein the eyeglass display unit includes a plurality of eyeglass receivers having receiver indexing indicators; and a plurality of partition indexing indicators associated with each partition.
 16. The display of claim 15, wherein each receiver indexing indicator has a corresponding partition indexing indicator.
 17. The display of claim 3, wherein the eyeglass display unit comprises one or more eyeglass receivers.
 18. The display of claim 17, wherein each bin is aligned with at least one of the one or more eyeglass receivers.
 19. A display for eyeglasses, comprising: an enclosure having a top and a bottom; an eyeglass display unit disposed within the enclosure, between the top and the bottom, wherein the eyeglass display unit is rotatable within the enclosure; a first cabinet and a second cabinet secured to the enclosure, wherein at least a portion of each of the first cabinet and the second cabinet is above the bottom of the enclosure; and a drawer movably disposed within each of the first and second cabinets.
 20. The display of claim 19, further comprising a plurality of bins within each drawer.
 21. The display of claim 20, wherein each of the bins is partitioned into a plurality of sections, and wherein each section is dimensioned to receive a pair of eyeglasses.
 22. The display of claim 19, wherein each eyeglass display unit includes a plurality of eyeglass receivers having receiver indexing indicators; and a plurality of drawer indexing indicators associated with each drawer, wherein each receiver indexing indicator has a corresponding drawer indexing indicator.
 23. The display of claim 20, wherein each eyeglass display unit includes a plurality of eyeglass receivers having receiver indexing indicators; and a plurality of bin indexing indicators associated with each bin, wherein each receiver indexing indicator has a corresponding bin indexing indicator.
 24. The display of claim 21, wherein the eyeglass display unit includes a plurality of eyeglass receivers having receiver indexing indicators; and a plurality of partition indexing indicators associated with each partition, wherein each receiver indexing indicator has a corresponding partition indexing indicator.
 25. The display of claim 20, wherein the eyeglass display unit comprises one or more eyeglass receivers.
 26. The display of claim 25, wherein each bin is aligned with at least one of the one or more eyeglass receivers.
 27. A method of replacing eyeglasses in an eyeglass display unit, the method comprising: providing an enclosure having a top and a bottom, the enclosure including an eyeglass display unit disposed within the enclosure between the top and the bottom; providing at least a cabinet secured to the enclosure, wherein at least a portion of the first cabinet is above the bottom of the enclosure, the cabinet including a drawer movably disposed within the cabinet, the eyeglass display unit including a plurality of eyeglass receivers; providing one or more bins within the drawer, the bins dimensioned to retain one or more pairs of replacement eyeglasses, wherein each bin is aligned with at least one eyeglass receiver; identifying an empty eyeglass receiver; and placing a replacement eyeglass on the empty eyeglass receiver. 